Blood Red (30 page)

While she ate, Drake poured wine into two jeweled goblets. He slid one toward her. She eyed it suspiciously.

58

Blood Red

Drake picked up his and took a sip. He sighed as the liquid dribbled down his throat.

Red picked up her glass. She gulped down the entire contents. It dribbled out her mouth and down her chin.

Drake laughed. “I love a woman that enjoys her food and drink.”

Red just grunted her acknowledgment as she dug back into the duck, ripping savagely at its succulent meat.

“I admire you, Red. You are a woman of substance.

I’ve been watching you over the years. You have never let anything stand in your way. If something did, you would just cut it down. I like that.”

Red eyed him as he spoke. “I never killed anyone that did not deserve it.”

“Oh, quite right. Just as I never take anyone that is not fitting.”

Red paused in her eating. She licked her fingers clean. “You and I are not the same.”

“You do not think so? I have to disagree. You know what the common people called you behind your back, whispered about you in the dark. They called you Blood Red.”

“I know.”

“They whispered about me too, in the dark. They were just as afraid of you as they were of me. How does that make you feel, Red?”

“How does it make you feel?”

“Powerful.” He took another sip of his wine.

“I don’t feel. ‘Tis of no concern to me. I’m not out there trying to make friends.”

59

Vivi Anna

“Very true. Look what happened to little Mary. She was your childhood friend, was she not?”

Red stared vehemently at Drake. Her hands shook with rage. Adrenaline started to pump through her body. “That was an accident.”

Drake leaned forward on the table. He smiled into her eyes. “And your mother? That was an accident, too?”

Red pushed the food back from her. She looked deep into his eyes. “I’d advise you, Taker, to talk about something else.”

He sat back and pursed his lips. “Certainly. Let’s talk about The Wolf.”

“No.”

“No? He’s been the bane of your existence for the past seven years, surely you have something to say about him.” He speared a piece of asparagus with his fork. “Unless all that has changed?”

“Nothing’s changed.”

“Are you certain? You could have left him for dead, but you didn’t. You risked your own life for his.”